Three Thai Ships Seized by Pirates Over Weekend

Reuters TV/Video Screen Grab of Somali Pirates

Somali pirates hijacked three Thai fishing vessels over the weekend in what is definitely one of their boldest ventures ever. The ships were hit about 1,200 miles from shore, struck at a range that until now was beyond the scope of their meager resources. But these vagabond groups of thieves, terrorists and sub-human opportunists have used their ill-gotten gains to buy bigger vessels with greater endurance. What is this telling us? It's telling us that the world's response to piracy is pitifully inadequate.

We need a proactive anti-piracy stance that includes a strategy of aggressive countermeasures. Anything less, and this cancer grows and spreads. It will spread geographically and culturally. These people have no moral code. They have no sense of right and wrong. They are praying on the innocent and the unarmed. One day in the not too distant future they will procure weapons much more capable than what they have presently at their disposal. If we keep paying ransoms, one day they'll be in the market for an old diesel submarine. Maybe they'll buy it from North Korea, and maybe they'll modify it to fire a Iranian missile with a very nasty warhead. Maybe they'll want to check out the Cliffs of Dover or maybe even the Statue of Liberty. Suddenly, the aims of the pirates, the terrorists and the rogue states aren't so incompatible.

~seabgb